Game on at the State Library

The State Library of Queensland is throwing open its doors to gamers for the ultimate level up.

Garage Gamer, which opens this weekend, is a four month program featuring talks and demonstrations about the gaming industry – as well as workshops on how to build your own.

That's gaming of the Angry Birds or Jetpack Joyride variety, not pokies and blackjack.

And those types of games are creating more gamers than ever before, according to SLQ events manager Susan Kukucka.

“There's been a really huge rise in indie game development in the last couple of years, which has really reflected the trend in casual gaming,” she said.

Ms Kukucka said many people prefer their mobile phones or tablets to console games which require a lengthy playing time commitment.

“People are just picking up mobile phones and playing for 10-15 minutes on a bus, or playing it on Facebook, and the barriers to creating those sorts of games are much lower,” she said.

Spearheading the Queensland charge in the game market is Halfbrick. Its game Fruit Ninja has been downloaded over 300 million times, and is estimated to be on one-third of US iPhones.

“They're Brisbane's and Australia's success story,” said Ms Kukucka.

The studio will be providing new games to the SLQ for attendees to play, as well as hosting a “Level Up” night in March.

“They'll show off their latest stuff, talk about what they do – it'll be a fun way to see how they operate and see what inspires them,” she said.

The library has a role in collecting work by Queenslanders and Ms Kukucka said it shouldn't be controversial that video games are included along with writers and other artists.

“This is one way to showcase all the talent that exists in Queensland in the field, as well as highlighting that the benefits of gaming far outweigh any of the stigma associated with game violence or anything like that,” she said.

“It's a really important way of reading, of learning, of sharing stories, problem-solving and play.”